Stargazer Lily
by yourgrandmasdog
Summary: Turns out that the fresh new life in a prestigious dormitory high school wasn't the ideal experience Mei was looking forward to. But after a run in with a certain American boy, Mei realizes that she hasn't yet experienced what this new life really has to offer, and that the pursuit of her dreams is something that should never be overlooked. (AU, human names used, America x Taiwan)


Hello, you're probably going to skip this part to get onto the story, but if you're not, I just want to thank you for clicking this fanfiction. I'm not the best writer, and it's my first time writing a fanfiction too. And it's of my OTP America x Taiwan! I really am grateful that you are willing to read something I wrote. I just have to warn you that I plan to make this a really long story. Hey, a lot has to happen before love can truly blossom! Anyways, enjoy!

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><p>Brushing a stray brown hair out of her face, the Taiwanese lazily watched with tired eyes as the ceiling fan hanging above gradually spun in a very mechanical manner, unsurprisingly. Without averting her eyes, a familiar tone sounds from her laptop. Somewhat reluctantly, and with a light grunt, the girl pulls herself off the bed and drags her feet to her desk. Plopping herself down onto the seat, she's opens her skype, two faces flashing onto the small screen.<p>

"Yo Mei! What's up with you?" Her friend Yong Soo made a toothy grin, the boy beside him, Xiang, nodding hello to the screen.

"Hey guys, not much really. Just bored to death." Mei felt like yawning, but of course, that isn't the most polite thing to do when talking to someone.

"No kidding. You're not even dressed yet! Don't tell me you're skipping school…"

Mei chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, right. Even if I did plan to, my grades might slip. And if that happened, my parents would butcher me. I may be living away from them, but honestly, I can still feel them breathing down onto my neck."

Mei shuddered slightly, Yong Soo and Xiang finding her reaction amusing.

"… I just wish this school had been more like what I thought it would be, then maybe I would have been more willing and excited to come to school each day... But to be honest, it doesn't feel any different from our old middle school. I mean, yeah, we have dorms and we're living away from parents, but like I said, my parents are still watching me like a hawk. I thought I'd have more freedom… But it's not at all what I imagined it to be." Mei sighed as she rested her cheek in her hand.

"Well, we've still got, like, a few more years of school left. Some more opportunities for you to enjoy it here should come up soon." Xiang reassured her.

"Yeah! If you're going to spend awhile longer here, you might as well try to find chances to just have fun!"

Mei smiled at her best friends' encouraging words.

"Thanks you guys. Yeah, you're right. Maybe I _will_ be able have a great time at this school! I'm sure another opportunity will come up!"

"Yeah! Go Mei, we're cheering for you!" Yong Soo punched the air triumphantly, nearly smacking Xiang upside the head.

Mei smiled and laughed, grateful that the three of them were friends and were always there to cheer each other on.

"Yeah, I'll do my best! Anyway, I should probably get ready now, see you guys at school!"

"Yeah, see you Mei."

"Byeee Mei!"

As the faces of her two best friends flashed off, Mei immediately got up from her desk to start putting on her uniform and getting her bag.

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><p>Mei walked to the school building feeling very dreary. Even though she was able to talk to her friends before school, her energy level was near rock bottom. Still, as much as she wanted to ditch school and just hang out somewhere, there were many reasons why she must go that overruled that desire. Heaving an exasperated sigh, Mei continued to trudge along to the school.<p>

A little thought lighting up in her head, she stopped walking. Thinking for a moment, she decided to stop by somewhere. Why not? There was still quite a bit of time before classes begin. Mei walked at a slightly faster pace to a small area of the school campus that was about a few minutes walk away from the school building. It was a nice, peaceful place, just a small expanse of trees that could look like the woods, but with more sunlight pouring in through the branches. She often hung out there either with her two best friends or by herself. Mei arrived at the place and walked forward, finding the particular place of the area she intended to go to. Mei stopped at a large boulder that was about a few feet taller than her. Her eyes travelled across the light grey surface of the rock, which had writing all over it. Somehow, a trend started for students to come here and leave random writings all over it. Some don't include their names in the writing. Not that it was difficult to see who wrote each, some were pretty obvious to Mei.

"_Pasta~!"_

"_I am awesome! _(A little picture of a chick was drawn beside this writing)_"_

"_Ponies are totally cool!"_

"_I vow that big brother will marry me one day…"_

"_I AM MATTHEW, PLEASE NOTICE ME!" _(Who? Mei thought)

"_I love boobies!" _(Mei mentally facepalmed. She specifically remembered Yong Soo writing this)

Mei continued to look over the boulder, humming in interest, giggling, or shuddering in disgust at some of them. Then her eyes reached the bottom of the boulder, reading the last few writings that were left. Now that Mei thought about it, she realized she still hasn't written anything on it yet.

It was a silly trend, but Mei still felt that she had to write something, perhaps something to remember the school by. There were many times when she tried to write something, but at the end she couldn't. She didn't want to write something that she could easily forget… after all, there should be at least one memory from this school that she can reminisce about. So far, she hasn't had much luck with making any unforgettable memories. Though most of the other students merely wrote things on it out of pure light-heartedness, Mei wanted her message to be meaningful and really be able to capture her yet-to-happen experiences at this school in just one line.

Mei stood there and racked her brain for something to write. Wasn't there anything about this school she could write about?

"Hey there! Whatcha doin'?"

Mei jolted and softly yelped at the sudden loud voice that interrupted her thinking. The voice didn't sound threatening, in fact it sounded quite friendly. Mei spun her head around to the source of the voice. Her line of sight was met with a tall flashy-looking figure. He had light brownish-blonde hair, with a stray hair sticking up from the top of the rest of his hair, kind of like her own stray curled hair that refuses to stay with the rest of her hair, and bright blue eyes with glasses, a westerner (though the school was famous for its many students from different countries). He was cute, Mei thought, as any hormonal teenage girl had to admit. But she didn't recognize him. Judging by his uniform, even though he had a brown bomber jacket over it, he was a student at this school. Mei just stared back at him, surprised by the sudden showy presence who came out of nowhere. When she opened her mouth to say something, nothing came out.

"Oh, are you writing something on that boulder?"

The young man stepped forward before Mei could respond. She jolted again when she felt him stand directly behind her and look over her shoulder so that he was looking right at what she was looking at.

_Wh-What's with this guy?_

"Oh, just reading it huh? Have you written anything on it?"

"Uh… no I haven't. I haven't thought of anything yet."

"Hey, you don't have to think. Just do! See, I already wrote something on, right there!"

The blue-eyed student pointed upwards, towards the top of the boulder. Mei squinted, but due to her height and the sunlight blocking her view, she couldn't see a thing.

"Um… I can't see anything."

"Oh yeah, you're pretty short aren't you?"

_Well excuse me for not being 6 feet tall, King Kong… _Mei irritatingly thought to herself.

"Well, guess I don't have a choice…"

Mei jolted when she suddenly felt large hands grasp her hips.

"Wh-What the…?!"

"Up you go…!"

With strong arms, Mei yelped as she felt her body get hoisted off the ground and was dangling in the air.

"There you go! You see it now?"

It took Mei a moment to get over the shock of suddenly getting lifted up so easily. Looking forward, she immediately noticed the bright bolded words that practically glared back at her.

"I'm The Hero!"

There were stars and splashes of red and blue that decorated around the words. Mei blinked a few times. It was kind of cute, it gave off a sort of comic book feel to it. But to be honest, it looked more like a child's drawing than something done by a high schooler. But she could tell he put effort into it.

"What do you think? Kinda sums up my awesomeness, doesn't it?"

"Uh, y-yeah sure…" Mei wasn't sure how to answer that.

"… Um, hey, don't take this the wrong way, but can you put me down now? I'm getting a little uncomfortable."

"Oh, no problem. Down you go…"

The boy placed her back down carefully and released his hands, Mei relieved to be back safe on the ground.

"So, pretty cool huh? I wrote it near the top so that everyone can see it first! But, I guess I was only thinking about those who were as tall as me."

Mei couldn't tell whether that was another cheap shot that she was short, but she decided to forget about it.

"What about you? Isn't there something you want to write?"

"I… don't have anything in mind. Anyway, I'd much rather write something that isn't so light-hearted."

"Why? It wouldn't hurt to just scribble on whatever's on your mind and get it over with."

Mei turned to face the boulder, wondering as her golden-brown eyes travelled over the many different writings that covered the surface.

"I guess it's because so far I found this school pretty boring… I want to write something once I make some good memories at this school, but I doubt anything interesting will happen."

The boy faced the boulder as well, smiling.

"Well… it's pretty early to say that. Who knows, the beginning of something extraordinary might just happen to you sooner than you realize…"

The two of them stood beside each other as they scanned the rock surface, not looking at anything in particular. There seemed to be a warm, friendly atmosphere that enveloped them, as if they were friends for a long time. Neither was sure why… but as odd as it was, it felt as if they could stay that way forever.

That is, until Mei brought her head down and glanced at her hands. That's when she noticed the time on her watch.

"Oh no! Class starts in 4 minutes! I completely lost track of time, I can't be late!"

Mei panicked. She's never been late or absent since kindergarten and she planned to keep it that way. The boy chuckled and then grabbed her hand.

"E-Eh?!" Mei became flustered at the sudden contact.

"Ha ha! Well, if you don't want to be late, let's hurry together! C'mon, we can still run!"

Before Mei could respond, he was already running with her right behind him, their hands linking the two of them.

"Yaaaa!"

The two students arrived at the school, about two minutes before classes begun. Both were panting for their breaths, especially Mei since the boy seemed to be a faster runner than she was. After catching his breath, he smiled at Mei looking quite triumphant.

"See? We made it before the bell rang! Nice, huh?"

Mei just nodded, still catching her own breath.

"…Y-yeah… great…"

The young man laughed.

"Ha ha! Whoops, guess I should of slowed down a bit for you huh? Sorry about that."

"I-It's fine…"

Mei looked down at her hand and blushed. She realized that the two of them were still holding hands. Mei released her hand from his grip immediately and looked down at her feet, still avoiding his eyes out of embarrassment. Thankfully, he didn't seem to really notice.

"Anyway, guess I should get to class now. So should you."

"Yeah, you're right. See you, and um… thanks!"

Mei turned to run in the direction of her class. That's when she remembered something and stopped running. She turned back around towards the student who was already turned the opposite way from her.

"Wait!"

The young man stopped and turned to face her.

"I just realized… what's your name?"

He smiled back at her and brought his hand forward and made a thumbs-up.

"The name's Alfred! Alfred Jones! I'm from America, I'm in my second year, I love hamburgers and I'm the hero!"

Mei tilted her head in confusion at his last statement. What's up with him and "being the hero?"

"Okay, now you!"

"Huh?"

"Introduce yourself the way I did!"

"Er, okay. My name is Mei Xiao. I'm from Taiwan, I'm in my first year, I love bubble tea and I'm… a girl?"

Mei inwardly face palmed. That last statement just made her sound like she was gender confused.

_Hey, I couldn't think of anything else to say!_

Alfred blinked at Mei's awkward last statement and then laughed.

"Alright then! Later Mei Xiao The Girl! Nice meeting you!"

Then Mei simply shrugged and resumed running in the direction of her own classroom.

_Alfred Jones… I'll be sure to remember it…_

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><p>And chapter one is up! Hope my first attempt at a fanfiction wasn't too horrible ^^' Next chapter will be up in … about a week? I don't know, we'll see! (By the way, Yong Soo and Xiang are S. Korea and Hong Kong :P)<p> 


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